BACKGROUND NOTE ON GENDER EQUALITY, NATIONALITY LAWS AND STATELESSNESS 2018 Overview of nationality laws Middle East and North Africa A great deal of progress has been achieved in recent years, with reforms in five States since 2004. However, twelve countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region do not yet grant equality to women with regard to the right to pass their nationality to their children. The law in Qatar does not allow mothers to confer nationality on their children, without exception, even if this would result in statelessness. The law in Kuwait also allows only fathers to confer their nationality on their children in all circumstances. If a Kuwaiti mother has a child with a father who is unknown or whose paternity has not been established, the individual concerned may apply for Kuwaiti citizenship at majority. In such cases, nationality is granted by Decree based on the discretionary recommendation of the Minister of Interior. However, this is an extraordinary measure that occurs rarely in practice. The nationality law of Lebanon also allows only Lebanese fathers to confer their nationality on their children in all circumstances. Women can only confer their citizenship if the child is born out of marriage and recognized while a minor by the Lebanese mother. The nationality laws of Jordan, Libya, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates do not allow women nationals married to foreign nationals to pass their nationality to their children. However, they do permit women nationals to confer their nationality on their children in certain circumstances such as where fathers are unknown, stateless, of unknown nationality or do not establish filiation. In Iraq, although the Iraqi Constitution of 2005 establishes gender equality by providing that nationality is acquired by descent from either men or women, Iraq’s 2006 nationality law limits the ability of Iraqi women to confer nationality on children born outside the country. For such births, the child of an Iraqi mother may apply for Iraqi nationality within one year of reaching majority, providing that the child's father is unknown or stateless and the child is residing in Iraq at the time of the application. In Syria, mothers can only confer nationality if the child was born in Syria and the father does not establish filiation in relation to the child. Syria has a safeguard in place to prevent statelessness among children born in the territory but is not clear that this is implemented in practice. UNHCR | 8 March 2018 7